Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - After scoring a hit with The Saga, South African MC poster boy AKA and producer Anatii have collaborated again with a new single called 10 Fingers.
The track has a throwback, early-2000s ragga feel to it and features an instrumental crossover of bass, a Caribbean-like xylophone and a very non-sparing use of auto-tune. AKA gives us some very honest lyrics aside from his usual confident-leaning-on-arrogant gusto: “Please don’t put me on Snapchat / I’m throwing phones over the balcony / If I don’t reach for your handshake / Is that gonna mess with your self-esteem?”
He lobs shade at a so-far unnamed target with: “Mr Main Event got you swimming in the shallow end of the talent pool.”
10 Fingers has a mildly motivational message, with the duo swearing to listeners that they’re “getting money like the white folk [haaibo] / 10 fingers on the Bible”.
I have to wonder: Why is that a testament of success? Will the music that our mainstream rappers create ever evolve beyond the old-as-time story of the paper chase? The themes of money, cars, hater-bashing and all things nightlife are still things the South African hip-hop scene will not leave in 2016. Not even remotely. The single ticks all the boxes for what a commercial hip-hop track needs to do well in the market. Given that they are frontrunners in the industry, we hope to see in future both AKA and Anatii innovatively redefining what it means to be successful musicians in the hustle that is hip-hop.
Listen to the single here:
